CH 7

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Translated by: PERI

Zhiqi had no idea how quickly she needed to rush in grabbing tickets with tens of thousands of people in the early morning, so she just went back to school and waited for news from Jiang Yu.

As a result of waiting for a few days, right before the official announcement of the meeting of Wang Tian’s crew, a hot search about Jiang Qi suddenly appeared on Weibo.

For the innocent people who were eating melons, the title was earth-shattering—

#Jiangqi's real reason for imprisonment? #

Zhiqi's heart thumped, she unconsciously frowned and tapped the headline with her trembling fingers. No artist would buy such a hot search. Jiang Qi's past was completely found by netizens and there were countless unsightly and filthy comments on it.

At the top of the topic, Orange Entertainment who broke the news sounded as if they dug the whole truth of the matter and wrote with a malicious tone that overflowed between the lines of the article.

[Orange Entertainment v: Jiang Qi who debuted and starred in the film directed by Shen Lei, is he a real Rookie Star or a Black Lotus? According to insiders, Jiang Qi was imprisoned before he entered the circle and after digging deeper, the reason for his imprisonment was actually related to Peachy News....]

(TN: Peach News means a scandal/ gossip about an improper love relationship between a man and a woman. Meanwhile, I couldn’t find a definition of Black Lotus. Perhaps the male term for white lotus? Someone who appears pure and kindhearted but the opposite in reality. Please comment if you know.)

A passage alluding to Barabbas mentioned that Jiang Qi was imprisoned for 'molesting a girl, attempting to ***, and so on.

(TN: I took a long time understanding this part and tried my best to interpret the context. Anyways, the raw mentioned [巴拉 ]Barabbas who’s a biblical person, a notorious prisoner who committed murder. He was chosen by the crowd to be pardoned instead of Jesus. Read here for more info.)

Jiang Qi's condition in the industry is excellent despite debuting out of nowhere. She doesn’t know that he has gotten in the way of a lot of people in the entertainment circle.

Orange Entertainment willingly came to the forefront in attracting firepower. As soon as this news was released, it will naturally be reprinted by various marketing accounts. Each microblog is almost a battlefield without gunpowder smoke.

The peach news itself is one of the most attention-grabbing news in the entertainment industry, not to mention black news that is so exciting.

For a while, except for Jiang Qi's fans, no one was willing to verify the truth and the melon-eating crowd scolded neatly. Perhaps, they hoped that the news itself was true and couldn't wait to vent and stand as keyboard warriors pouring their criticisms on the moral high ground and feeling proud of it. After all, the entertainment industry has been dull for far too long.

The appearance of Jiang Qi and the news wrapped around him was sensational. However, seeing the rumors on the internet made Zhiqi's face turn pale. She couldn't help tossing her phone fiercely, her soft and delicate eyebrows seemed to be covered with a thin layer of ice as she muttered coldly, "Nonsense."

It's all fucking bullshit. The little girl couldn't help but swear in her heart and her slender fingers clenched tightly.

Meng Chunyu just came back with a serving of sesame sauce noodles and when she opened the door of the dormitory, she saw Zhiqi's frosty appearance.  She almost thought she had entered the wrong door. In the three years of living in the same dormitory, Meng Chunyu had never seen Zhiqi, the little fairy, be so cold and hostile.

She couldn't help but take a deep breath as she walked over and poked Zhiqi's shoulder carefully and asked weakly, "Xiqi, what's the matter with you?"

Zhiqi pursed her lips and said nothing. Her black eyes stared at the phone. Meng Chunyu followed her line of sight and picked it up suspiciously, but...

"Fuck, it's so cool!" Zhiqi's was still open and the 'exclusive news' of Jiang Qi was displayed on the lit screen. Meng Chunyu's eyes were straight and her voice stumbled, “This… is this... fake? My God, he really can't wash it off, right?"

Zhiqi stood up like a cat whose tail had been trampled and said without hesitation, "Of course it's fake! He didn't do anything wrong. Why should he be whitewashed?!"

...

Meng Chunyu was stunned for a moment, then frowned suspiciously while she looked at her, “How do you know? Are you so sure?"

Although they said the fan filter existed, the appearance of Zhiqi just now indicates as if she really knows the truth. In fact, isn’t the news just gossip and people are just speculating? Why is Zhiqi so determined?

Meng Chunyu's sharpness made Zhiqi startled. She bit her lip as she explains, "I... I just feel that he is not such a person."

.

Her explanation is a bit weak. If it's just 'feeling', it shouldn't be the right tone just now.

"Xiqi, I always think it's strange that you are so obsessed with Jiang Qi."  Meng Chunyu herself is a very smart girl. She can deduce and have a thought about it. She asked tentatively, "What is it about him that attracts you? "

Zhiqi lowered her head in silence and after a while, she took a deep breath and looked up at Meng Chunyu.

"I know him. So... I know what kind of person he is."

It’s okay to tell Meng Chunyu because she doesn't want people she knows and her good friends to have a prejudice against Jiang Qi.

The reason why Jiang Qi left that year, she knew the progression clearly. What Zhiqi knew for certain was that Jiang Qi would never have peach news. Because she believed that the teenager would not like anyone else except her.

....

When Zhiqi was in the sixth grade, she realized that her protective desire for Jiang Qi had reached a certain level. At that time, they had been in the same school for nearly two years and when they were about to graduate, the little girl was naturally reluctant to part.

"Jiang Qi." Zhiqi ran over, as usual, to deliver meals to the boy during the lunch break. The two primary students huddled in the corner of the school playground, each holding a lunch box to eat, but Zhiqi couldn't eat it.

Under the scorching sun, she was shielded by the boy in the shade behind her, staring at the ends of the back of his head unconsciously. Then she murmured, "Which junior high school would you go to?"

For some reason, Jiang Qi is taller than boys of the same age. Zhiqi remembered that she was much shorter than him two years ago. Now they are thirteen years old and Jiang Qi is almost a head taller than her. Yet, they say that girls grow taller than boys.  

She thought in a daze and heard the boy's faint voice, “I don't know."

"...Oh" Zhiqi muttered in disappointment and her ponytails seemed to droop along with it. The whole person looks like a pitiful white and tender bunny.

Jiang Qi couldn't tell when Zhiqi acted like a coquettish puppet or if she was really unhappy, but when he saw the girl's disappointment, he was at a loss.

The boy's slender fingers grabbed the clothes unconsciously and pursed his lips for a while before explaining with difficulty, “I really don't know. My household registration may be moved to my uncle's house. I don't know what campus I will be assigned to."

He was really confused about his future. He’s not even sure if he would continue going to school.

He didn't mean to prevaricate and be perfunctory towards Zhiqi.

"Oh." Zhiqi wasn't happy when she heard him—how could she be happy if she couldn't find out where Jiang Qi was going?

The little girl had to pretend to be mature and could only sigh. She told him where she was going, “I may go to No. 8 Middle School, so you can go  there too, okay?"

...

Jiang Qi couldn't promise her anything.

"Why won't you talk?" The girl's pointed chin was placed on the lunch box and she blinked at the boy with black grape-like eyes with undisguised expectations, “We are still here. Is a school bad?"

It was the first time in his life that someone had a look of 'expectation' towards him.

He couldn't bear to refuse Zhi Qi's request. Although he didn't know how to express himself, however in the two years he spent together in elementary school, he rarely refused girls.

For example, when Zhiqi asks him to help her with her homework, meals, and even braiding the girl's loose hair... Jiang Qi had already learned the saying 'practice makes perfect' before he knew it.

It may be that Zhiqi has become accustomed to having him in his life and does not want to experience the separation brought about by graduation.

Unbeknownst, Jiang Qi also didn't want to separate from her.

In the eyes of Zhiqi, the boy nodded slowly, “I... let me ask."

He still can't agree to it directly, because it's never up to him to decide where he wants to go or not.

"That's great, you must ask." Zhiqi smiled, her big eyes curved into a crescent moon  and her obsidian-like pupils shone brightly, “I don't want to be separated from you."

What if someone bullies Jiang Qi again?

In the past two years, Zhiqi had become accustomed to following Jiang Qi like a little tail. There was a time when a senior boy wanted to exchange blows with him when he saw her with Jiang Qi, but he end up avoiding him with discernment.

Until they moved to sixth grade and became senior students.

The girl's magnanimous attachment unconsciously moved Jiang Qi’s heart. His glazed pupils stared at Zhiqi's porcelain doll-like face and Jiang Qi heard his voice ask quietly—

"Why don't you want to separate from me?"

The sudden question made the girl who had never thought about it startled. Zhiqi pouted her pink lips and thought for a while, before shaking her head, “There's no reason, I just don't want to."

The real answer in her heart was that she still wanted to follow him and she didn't want the boy to be bullied and scarred.

Zhiqi still remembers that day when they were in the Fifth grade. Jiang Qi didn't come to school or ask for leave, he only arrived at school at noon. The boy's pale face was clearly bruised, apparently having been beaten and blood was still oozing from a long cut on his arm.

The girl rarely sees such a 'bloody' scene which made her instantly cry.

Jiang Qi, who was thoughtless, had to endure the pain to comfort her. The boy pretended to be gruff, “Why are you crying?"

"You, what's wrong with you?" Zhiqi’s face was pale and her eyes red. She was crying out of breath, as if she was the one who was beaten and bleeding, “Have you been beaten again?"

The word "again" made the boy's thin body stiffen and Jiang Qi hummed in embarrassment.

"Stop fighting, okay?" Zhiqi took out a few band-aids, fearing that she would make him feel pain when she sticks them on Jiang Qi. She clumsily handled the boy's wound, her long eyelashes seemed to be stained with a layer of fog, looking at him timidly——

"Does it hurt?"

She looked like a little bunny.

In a mess, Jiang Qi said a sentence that he thought he would never say based on his personality, “Coax me a little and I won't be hurt anymore."

Zhi Qi was visibly stunned.

"How should I coax?" The girl has grown so big that she hasn't taken the initiative to 'coax' other people except to please her parents. She thought about it seriously and then smiled at Jiang Qi, “Stop fighting, I will protect you. Okay?"

In fact, Zhiqi vaguely knew that something was wrong with Jiang Qi, but she still hoped that she could protect him. Also, from the beginning to the end, she took care of him clumsily.

When the boy asked why she doesn’t want to be separated from him, Zhiqi asked her young heart and she quickly got the answer.

Because of her extreme desire to protect Jiang Qi.

****

[We've been together since we were thirteen years old. ]

[Although the halfway boy lied, he wouldn't like other people's, would he?]

[ Jiang Qi, I don't believe all the scandals about you. ]

[DAY 35 ]